We can get confused about faith and certainty. Blind faith makes us believe that something is certain. No doubt about it. When what it really is .. is that we can be certainly wrong. The refusal to even reconsider what we believe can lead us to the extremes. Rather than reinforcing our belief, we seek to extend a tower higher up, not even looking at it's foundation.
Inspired by this NYT article
Today's celebrity culture has made it hard for people to recognize the difference between what is useful and what is most visible. What makes it harder is the opinion that one has to be visible to do more good. This could stem from a misunderstanding of the concept that it is not sufficient for good to be done but good must be also seen. And neither the extent of the visibility has a consistent correlation to the value of the good being done. But the confusion has led to desire to inflate the visibility of the do-gooder in tandem with the good, placing as much value in it as the deed itself. Coupled with the phenomenon of popular being the cause of popularity, visibility takes the front seat in place of the good deed itself, obscuring it in the back seat.
Being righteous sometime means being wrong sometime, too. Being right means you are right all the time. Being Right doesn't mean you are right, just as being Left doesn't mean you're wrong. Being a right Idiot means being right. Being a Right Idiot means your twice it An idiot doesn't know how they got it right. An righteous idiot doesn't know how.
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